I Mean I Could, But Why Would I Want To?
by arysa13
Summary: Archie goes over to Betty's to study, but he accidentally walks in on her doing something he wasn't supposed to see.


Archie opens his eyes reluctantly, feeling stiff and groggy. He really hadn't meant to fall asleep, but somewhere between getting home from school and meeting Betty to study he'd closed his eyes for a split second and one thing had led to another.

He grabs for his phone, squinting at it, his eyes still not having adjusted to him being awake. 5:37pm. Shit, he was meant to be at Betty's over half an hour ago. She promised him she would help him with his biology homework. She's totally going to think he flaked.

Sure enough he has two unread text messages from her.

 **Betty, 5:06pm: Hey, are you still coming over to study?**

 **Betty, 5:25pm: I guess that's a no.**

Archie throws himself out of bed, swearing under his breath. He throws a cursory glance out his window, but Betty's curtain is closed. He gathers up his books and taps out a hasty message to Betty.

 **Archie, 5:38pm: Coming now**

Archie tugs on his shoes and races down the stairs and out of the house. He's next door in less than a minute. He rings the doorbell but he gets no answer. Glancing over his shoulder he realises there is no car in the driveway, which means Alice is probably not home, and Betty is probably in her room and can't hear the doorbell. Archie turns the doorknob and it swings open, so he strides inside.

He bounds up the staircase and heads straight for Betty's room. He can hear music playing through the door, and it doesn't even occur to him to knock. He pushes the door open, and then stops dead in his tracks when he sees Betty.

She's on her bed, and she clearly hasn't heard him come in, because her eyes remain closed. She's technically dressed, but her skirt is hiked up around her waist and her panties are around her knees. Her thighs are spread, her bare pussy on display, and she lets out a soft moan as her fingers slip in between her folds, playing with herself.

Archie stands frozen, his jaw hanging open. He knows he should leave, pretend he never saw anything, but his feet won't seem to move. His heart hammers in his chest, and his cock swells in his jeans. Betty moans again, arching her back, and fuck, she looks so beautiful like this.

" _God,_ " she murmurs, her fingers moving more frantically. She sounds absolutely wrecked, her face contorted in ecstasy. " _Archie_."

Holy fuck. Did she just say his name? A strangled noise comes out of his mouth as he chokes on his own breath. It's then that Betty realises she isn't alone. Her eyes fly open, panicked. Her eyes land on him, and she quickly pulls her skirt down to cover herself.

" _Archie_?" she exclaims, aghast. "Oh my god!" Her face is bright red, and Archie is sure his own face is the same colour.

"Betty, I'm sorry—" he starts. She grabs a pillow and throws it at him.

"Get out!" she cries.

"Okay," he says. That's a reasonable request. "I'm sorry!" he says again as he pulls the door closed. He leans against it. "Betty, I'm really sorry, I swear I didn't mean to see anything!" he calls through the door.

"Go away, Archie!" she yells.

"You've got nothing to embarrassed about—"

"Leave me alone!"

Archie cringes. "Okay!" he calls. "I'm still really sorry!"

He decides leaving is probably best. She's clearly embarrassed and needs time to recover. He'll text her later, or in the morning with more apologies. He races home and heads straight for his room. He pulls the curtain shut and reaches for his throbbing cock. He shouldn't do this, he knows. But he can't help it.

When he closes his eyes the image of her, legs splayed, touching herself, moaning his name, is burned into his brain. It's not like he's never thought of Betty in a sexual way before. It's just that he always manages to shut those thoughts down before they went too far.

Now, though? It's impossible not to think of her like that. Especially when, until today, he'd been convinced she was still hung up on Jughead. But hearing her say his name like that, desperate, wanting… he needs to hear it again, and this time he wants to be the one making her say it.

His hand slides into his boxers, gripping his hard cock. He imagines it's his fingers touching her, instead of her own. He rubs his cock until he comes, panting heavily, thinking of Betty the whole time.

* * *

He sends her another apology text when he wakes up, but she doesn't respond, and she leaves before he can even offer to walk her to school. Once at school, she steadfastly avoids eye contact with him, and flees in the opposite direction if she sees him coming.

"What's up with Betty?" Jughead asks him after Betty enters the common room and then, upon seeing it is already occupied by Archie, promptly leaves again, Veronica in tow. Archie chews his lip.

"I may have seen something I shouldn't have," he admits. Jughead and Betty broke up months ago now, but he's still not sure if this is something that's okay to discuss with Betty's former boyfriend.

"Like what?" Jughead snorts. "You walk in on her having sex?"

"Close," Archie grimaces. Jughead's eyes widen.

"You mean she was mastur—"

"Shh!" Archie glances around to make sure no one is listening to them. Betty would kill him if she found out he told Jughead. He doesn't mention the part where she moaned his name. That part is his, and his alone. "Yes. She's gonna get over this, right?"

"I dunno, man" Jughead shrugs. "You might need to even the playing field."

"Even the playing field?"

"Return the favour," Jughead grins. Archie isn't sure if Jughead is joking or not. He's also not sure it's a totally dumb idea. He could suggest it to her, and if it _is_ a dumb idea, at least he might get her to laugh at him, and that's a good start.

"Thanks, Jug," Archie says, leaping up.

"Wait, you're not actually going to do it, are you?"

"Gotta run," Archie says, skipping out of the common room. He ignores Jughead calling out after him.

* * *

Archie knows Betty can't avoid him forever, and he manages to catch her after school, ambushing her at her locker. She still ignores him, so he says nothing while she gathers her things into her backpack and shuts her locker. She brushes past him, beginning her walk home, and Archie falls into step beside her.

"Go away, Archie," she finally says as they leave the school grounds. "I really don't want to talk to you right now."

"Betty, I'm really, really sorry," he apologises again. "I was just coming over to study, I didn't know—"

"I _know_ , Archie," Betty cuts him off. "But it's humiliating, okay?"

"Why?"

" _Why_?" Betty repeats, incredulous. "Because, Archie," she says through gritted teeth. "That kind of thing is meant to be _private_. God, how long were you even standing there? And you heard me say…" she trails off, her face burning red.

"It's okay if you were thinking about me," Archie says. He licks his lips. "I think it's flattering."

"Oh my god, shut up!" Betty groans, covering her face with her hands. Archie can't help but grin.

"I'm serious," he says. "I mean, I think about you."

She whips her head around to face him. "You do?"

"Well, I do _now_ ," he admits. Betty groans again, turning away and speeding up her pace to get away from him. "Betty, Betty, wait!" he says, he reaches for her and she slows down, allowing him to grab her shoulders and spin her to face him. They're stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, fifty metres from home. Betty's eyes are glued to her feet.

"Betty, look at me," Archie says. Betty slowly lifts her head, looking at him with a pained expression, her face still bright red. "I only didn't think about you that way before because I thought it would be disrespectful to you, and besides I thought you were still in love with Jughead. And I'm not judging you in the least, or laughing at you. I thought it was really hot."

"This isn't making it better, Arch."

"Okay… well," he hesitates. "What if we even the playing field?"

"What?"

"I'll, you know… jerk off in front of you," he says. He immediately regrets it. It was meant to come off as funny at the very least, but now he wonders if it just sounds creepy.

But then Betty says, "Okay."

"Wait, what?"

"I want you to do it," she says. Archie stares at her. Honestly, he hadn't been expecting her to say yes.

"Okay," he says.

"Okay."

Betty starts walking again, and Archie walks beside her. He's nervous now, and he clings to his backpack straps for comfort.

"So…" he starts. "How are we going to do this?" he asks.

"Let's just go to my place right now," Betty says.

"Alright," Archie agrees. He follows her to her house and up to her bedroom, neither of them speaking. His throat is too dry and his heart is beating to erratically. Is this really happening?

Betty shuts her bedroom door, locking it this time. Archie drops his backpack to the floor.

"Where do you want me?" he tries to joke. Betty spins to face him.

"Um. Bed?" she shrugs. She looks just as unsure as he feels. Archie slips his shoes off and heads for the bed. He undoes his jeans and pulls them off too, leaving him in just his shirt and underwear. He makes himself comfortable while Betty stands there watching him, wringing her hands.

"Are you sure you want me to do this?" Archie asks. Betty nods. Butterflies swarm in Archie's stomach. It's not that he doesn't want to go through with it. He's just worried about Betty's reaction. What if she laughs at him? God, what if he can't get hard? That would be humiliating.

"Should I…?" he starts, reaching for the waistband of his boxers. Betty bites her lip and nods, before perching herself on the end of her bed, on her knees, facing him. Archie hooks his thumbs into the waistband of his boxers and pulls them down slightly. He keeps his eyes on Betty as he pulls his cock out, gauging her reaction. Her eyes widen a little, but other than that she remains expressionless. At least she isn't laughing.

He strokes himself, and his mind flies to the image of Betty from last night, moaning his name. His eyes flutter closed, and he needn't have worried about not getting hard, because the response from his cock his almost instantaneous. He rolls his thumb over the tip, feeling the precum gathering there, using it to lubricate his cock as he wraps his hand around himself, allowing the touch of his own hand to stimulate himself. He groans, picking up the pace, feeling more and more desperate for friction.

His curiosity gets the better of him then, and he opens his eyes to see if Betty really is watching him, to see if he can tell what she's thinking. His cock jumps when he sees her, her face flushed, her hand between her legs, up her skirt, and he can see her just gently rubbing the outside of her panties with her fingers. She stops when she sees him looking, cringing in embarrassment.

"You can touch yourself if you want," Archie says, his voice strained from desire. "If it's turning you on." It's not that he thinks she wants permission, per se, but he wants her to know he's not going to think she's disgusting or weird if she gets off to him getting off. She looks unsure at first, but as she continues to watch him jerk himself off her hand gradually drifts back between her legs. She hikes her skirt up and pushes her hand into her panties.

He can't really see what she's doing beneath the pink cotton, but just the knowledge that she's fingering herself there in front of him gets him closer to release. He hears Betty whine softly as she teases herself, and it makes him moan out loud.

"Betty," he says breathlessly. "What are we doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why the fuck are we touching ourselves when we could be touching each other?"

"I have no idea," Betty says, and then she surges forward at the same time as Archie does, their lips colliding. Betty fists her hands in Archie's shirt, clinging to him like her life depends on it, sighing softly at the touch of his tongue against hers. Archie slips his hands under her top and she climbs into his lap, pressing his cock against her panty-clad pussy. Archie groans against her mouth as she grinds against him, and he moves his hands from her waist to pull her panties down.

"Archie," Betty says, and Archie loves the way she says his name with such desperation. "I don't have any condoms."

"Neither do I," he realises. "It's okay," he says. "We just won't do that."

Betty nods. She cups his face, and he looks into her eyes, her pupils blown, full of want, her lips swollen from kissing him, her hair coming out of her usually neat ponytail. He's pretty sure he's in love. He surges up to kiss her again, and she wraps her arms around his neck, kissing him back while she lets the underside of his cock slide against her wet folds, rubbing against her clit. Without a condom he can't penetrate her, but they can still make each other feel good.

"God, Arch," Betty says, as Archie drops his head to kiss her neck. "I've wanted this for so long."

"Me too," Archie says, between kisses. Betty picks up the pace then, and Archie rocks against her, feeling the pressure build, knowing he's getting close.

" _Betty_ ," he groans. Betty just whimpers in response, rolling her hips against him. Archie feels like he's about to explode, and he can't hold out any longer. "Betty, I'm sorry, I can't—" he starts, but he cuts himself off, moaning as he comes, dropping his head to her shoulder. He shudders against her, already feeling guilty.

"It's okay, it's okay," Betty assures him. "I'm almost there." She slips her own hand between her legs to finish herself off.

"Here, let me," Archie says, and she lets him replace her hand with his own, and he circles her clit with his thumb, and rubs it until she comes, gasping for breath, rocking her hips to press her clit harder against his fingers. She collapses against him when she's done, breathing heavy.

"Arch," she whispers, so softly he wonders if he imagined it. He doesn't respond, just lets her catch her breath. After all, he's still catching his own. She shifts back, remaining in his lap but just enough to look at his face.

"What's wrong?" he asks her.

"Is this going to make things weird between us?" she asks him.

"No, Betty, of course not," he says. He frowns. "Unless… was this just a one time thing?" he asks.

"Do you want it to be a one time thing?"

Archie shakes his head slowly. "I want to be with you, Betty," he tells her. Betty smiles bashfully, and Archie grins. She presses her nose against his and then pecks him on the lips.

"We should get cleaned up before your mom gets home," Archie whispers. Betty nods, rolling off him. It's only then that she notices his come on her skirt and thighs, as well as on her bedspread. Her eyes widen.

"Oh god," she says. "How am I going to explain that to my mom?"

Archie laughs at her horrified expression. "It's fine, Betty. We can get it clean before she notices. I know all the tricks." He winks at her and she rolls her eyes, giving him a gentle shove. "Come on, you love me," he says playfully.

"Yeah," Betty agrees, not looking at him. His heart lurches.

"Yeah?" he swallows. Betty squints at him, and nods shortly.

"Me too," he says quickly. "I love you too."

Betty doesn't say anything, but he doesn't miss the smug smile she tries to hide from him as she gets up off the bed. "Are you going to just lie around all day or are you going to help me?" she asks. Archie grins. What he really wants to do is pull her back on top of him and have his way with her again. But that can wait. They've got plenty of time.


End file.
